


One Simple Choice

by of_the_moon_and_stars (tentrificus)



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Pranks, drk what else to tag, um thats kinda it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-07 14:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21459391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tentrificus/pseuds/of_the_moon_and_stars
Summary: One simple choice. And poof, there goes the Butterfly Effect. The miners chose not to mine Blackwood Mountain, and so the spirit of the wendigo was never released. Those teens chose to stop the prank, and so the twins stayed safe. Now there's a bunch of teens, alone, on the mountain, for a whole weekend.What could possibly go wrong?aka just me wanting a fluffy, normal weekend on the mountain
Relationships: Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley, Beth Washington/Original Female Character(s), Emily Davis/Matt Taylor (Until Dawn), Mike Munroe/Jessica Riley, Sam Giddings/Josh Washington
Kudos: 40





	1. February 2, 2014

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! originally posted on fanfic.net, but I moved it here. 
> 
> in this fic, the twins are still alive and there are no mines. both of those will be explained. 
> 
> now, how does a weekend with our favorite ud characters sound? 
> 
> (sounds chaotic if you ask me)

The snowstorm that night was brutal, probably the biggest of the season. Snowflakes piled up in drifts along the sides of the Lodge. It had to be at least three feet deep by now. Even from inside the cozy warmth of the Lodge, Beth shivered. 

She could hear her idiot friends snickering behind her but she was doing her best to savor the quiet before her friends inevitably got into trouble and she had to go kick their asses. Somehow they always managed to send someone crying to their room, and it was usually Hannah. Beth surveyed the storm outside. Perhaps she was wondering what it would be like to have better friends. 

Beth wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling a little shiver crawl down her spine. As much as she loved coming here, something about this place always managed to creep her out. At her age, she knew the only things to be scared of up here were the bears that sometimes liked to roam around and kill her father’s game. But her imagination when she was little - those were some terrifying dreams. 

She stepped back from the window and glanced over at her brother. He was slumped over the counter, beer bottles collected around him. Sighing, she made her way over to him and picked up one of the bottles.  _ Jeremiah Cragg _ , the label read. One of their dad’s favorites. “Jeez, Josh,” she said. “Once again brother, you’ve outdone us all.” She shook him a little to see if he’d respond. He didn’t.

It was now officially time for her to begin babysitting.

Sam watched as Jess placed the note on the counter and sauntered back over. She was decidedly not okay with this. 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you actually did this!” Emily murmured.

“Don’t you guys think this is a little bit cruel?” Sam whispered harshly, cocking her head.

“Oh, come on, she deserves it,” Jess said.

“It is not her fault Hannah has a huge crush on Mike,” Sam broke in. Beth had told her to keep an eye on Hannah and she promised she would, dammit. 

“Hannah’s been making the moves on him… I’m just lookin’ out for my girl Em,” Jess said, eyes glinting. She skipped away. 

“Hey, just because he’s class prez doesn’t mean he belongs to everyone,” Emily smirked, following her best friend. “Mike is my man.” 

Sam felt like throwing up. 

“Hey, Em,” Mike countered, “I’m not  _ anybody’s _ man, okay?”

“Whatever you say, darling!” Emily giggled.

Sam followed after the three of them and grabbed Jess’s shoulder. “It’s a schoolgirl crush! Hannah never asked for this!” Sam said. 

Jess wriggled out from under her hand. “Would you stop being such a party pooper? It’s just a prank!” When Sam just glared at her, she continued. “At least don’t tell Han.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sam asked incredulously. She looked around. Mike and Emily were waiting by the stairs. Matt and Ashley had hung back, watching the interaction anxiously. Matt was still holding that stupid selfie stick. “Are you guys really doing this?”

Ashley’s face crumpled. “Ugh- Sam, you’re right. This is so stupid. We’re so drunk.”

“Fine,” Jess snapped. “Suit yourself.” She turned to Matt, putting on a sickly sweet smile. Sam thought about Matt and Jess’s past and she grimaced. “What about you, Matt? We still need our cameraman.” She tugged at Matt’s sweatshirt.

Matt held her hands away from him and chuckled nervously. “Uh- maybe not.” 

Emily rolled her eyes and turned away, gesturing for Mike and Jess to follow her. “Whatever,” she muttered under her breath. “Pussies.”

Sam narrowed her eyes after her. “Let’s split up and look for Hannah,” she said. 

Ashley was watching her sadly. “Sam…” 

Sam shook her head. If she hadn’t stopped Ashley and Matt, would they have really gone with Jess and Emily and Mike to prank Hannah? “I can’t believe you would even consider doing that to Hannah,” she said, already heading up the stairs to look for Hannah. 

She didn’t look back, even after Matt called after her. 

Ashley was sure that this entire weekend had been a terrible idea. 

Her father had been absolutely convinced that her going on this trip would be the worst thing to ever happen to his daughter. “You have no idea what will happen,” he had said. “Drugs, alcohol,  _ sex _ -”

Ashley was also sure she was not going to have sex. There was only one person she would even be interested in, and he sure as hell wasn’t interested in her. 

But her father was kind of right, apparently, because Ashley had nearly hurt one of her best friends, just to impress Chris. She would say she was blinded by love, but that was only an excuse characters from her favorite romance novels used. And also- she wasn’t in love with Chris, no matter what her friends said.

She  _ wasn’t.  _

She spotted him collapsed over the counter, drunk off his ass. Beth was beyond him, still by the window, watching the snowstorm. Ashley gave a breath of relief. If anyone could help this mess, Beth could. 

“Beth!” Ashley called out. 

Beth looked over her shoulder. “Hm?” 

“Do you know where Hannah is?” Ashley said.  _ Please please please _ , she thought.  _ If Hannah gets hurt tonight- _

“I’m pretty sure I heard snooping around the counter, and then she kind of giggled and ran away,” Beth said, cocking her head. She had turned around to face Ashley by now. 

“Oh no,” Ashley said. “Oh no no no no no.”

“Why?” Beth asked. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, or maybe concern, or maybe  _ anger _ -

“Uh- it doesn’t matter right now, we’ve gotta find her,” Ashley turned away. Perhaps if she ran fast enough, she could run away from her problems. 

Beth grabbed her arm. “Tell me why, Ash.” 

Ashley looked back at Beth. She didn’t  _ look _ angry, but what if after she told her she decided she was a terrible friend and never spoke to her again? It sounded scarily plausible. Maybe she shouldn’t tell her the truth. 

“Mike was gonna lead her on,” Ashley admitted. “Invite her to a guest room and film her and lead her on.”

“Jesus christ,” Beth muttered, letting go of Ashley’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

“I got your note,” Hannah murmured, closing the door behind her. She tried to keep her voice light, coy, as if they both didn’t know how excited she was. 

“Glad you could make it,” Mike said. Joked. That was a joke, right? They had nothing to do on this mountain. Was he joking with her? Flirting?

He was definitely flirting, Hannah decided, because that note had been nothing if not flirting. 

She immediately glanced at her top, hands already reaching for the buttons on her lacy shirt. She’d worn it just for him. She’d been so excited for this weekend with him, with the idea that maybe, just maybe, he might notice her.

Could this really be happening? Had the world finally decided to pay her a favor?

Mike grinned. “Maybe we should start with a little, you know, making-”

The door banged open. Hannah whirled around, spotting her seething twin in the doorway and a cowering Ashley behind her. 

“Beth!” Hannah cried out in horror, trying to push her out. “We were just-” 

“Hey asshole, mind telling me what this is about?” Beth snarled. She was looking at Mike. 

What the hell? Beth knew how much Hannah had wanted this, what was she doing? “Beth,” she said again. “Get out, please.”

Why does the world have to ruin everything?

Suddenly, Sam appeared beside Ashley. “Hannah, hey,” she said, reaching for Hannah. 

What the hell was happening? Why was everyone doing this? 

Hannah turned back around to face Mike, maybe to apologize, maybe to ask if he knew what was happening, but then she saw Emily climbing out from under the bed and Jessica opening the closet door with a goddamn selfie stick in hand. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Hannah cried. “Why are you- Mike-”

She knew. She knew, but she didn’t want to believe it. Mike wouldn’t do this to her. Would he really? He wouldn’t, he wouldn’t. 

“Hannah, honey, come on, let’s get out of here,” Sam said, pulling at her arm.

“You-” Hannah pointed at Mike. “Why would you do this?” 

His dark eyes were unreadable, lit by the weak moonlight streaming in through the window. He was still so breathtaking. Unfairly breathtaking.

“Do you ever think about anything other than yourself?” Hannah asked. The room was silent. Hannah felt like crying. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it’s the other way around. I think you don’t deserve me.”

She glanced at Jess. “Get yourselves and that fucking selfie stick out of this house.” 

Mike’s mouth parted in surprise. “Hannah -"

“I’m serious. I don’t want to see your face again.”

She turned and stalked out, as if she still had any semblance of dignity left. Sam and Ashley followed her. Sam grabbed her hand. 

Hannah was suddenly glad she had cleared out the pictures of Mike that she hung up in her room. Initially she had done so her friends wouldn’t see, but now she was just glad she didn’t see his face anywhere. 

Hannah’s room was a safe haven. Mike didn’t deserve to be in here. 

She collapsed onto the bed, feeling the tears hit her at full force. Sam hugged her and she buried her face in her shoulder. “I’m such an idiot! I’m so dumb!” 

Sam stroked her hair. “It’s okay, hon. You’re right, he doesn’t deserve you.”

Hannah felt butterfly touches on her shoulder. “Hannah….” Ashley began. “They asked us - me and Matt - to help them with their prank. But uh, Sam told us not to. I’m so, so sorry.” 

Hannah half uncovered her face, looking at Ashley. She looked guilty, but Hannah was sure she didn’t want to see her either right now. “Please just go away.”

Ashley nodded. Hannah watched as she darted out of Hannah’s room. 

Hannah snuggled back into Sam, surveying her own room. She was about to go into college, but it was still decorated in purple and pink butterflies. Maybe it was time to get rid of them, put up more mature posters like all her friends were doing. 

She still loved those butterflies, though. 

When she had cried herself mostly to sleep, she felt another pair of arms wrap around her and she knew it was Beth. 

They stayed wrapped together until dawn. 


	2. June 20, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi yes i did my best please enjoy this trash
> 
> warning: extreme jam ahead (not that extreme tbh) and not much else

“This was honestly such a bad idea,” Hannah muttered from somewhere behind Beth. She’d been sulking all morning, even when she called Beth in to help her get dressed. 

She just wanted to look good today, she’d said. No other reason.

Beth had chosen not to comment. 

Beth looked back at her twin now, who shook her head quickly, causing the sun to glint off her glasses. The braids she’d put in nearly whacked Beth across the face and she subtly took a step back. 

“Ugh. How am I even supposed to look at them?” 

Josh snorted beside them. “Why would you ever want to look at their ugly faces anyway?”

Beth smirked. Hannah smacked his arm. 

“I’m just saying,” Josh said. 

Hannah looked a little bit like she wanted to strangle Josh. Beth didn’t blame her. It was a pretty common feeling. 

She nudged Hannah. “Remember when you were crying about having no classes with him last year?” she asked. 

Hannah flushed and shoved her back. “Shut up.”

Beth glanced back to the entrance of the park. Mike was striding through the gate, Matt on his heels. He had his arms up in a champion position and Beth once again wondered why she was friends with him. 

Oh yeah. Hannah.

“What’s up, party people?” he crowed. 

Beth gave him a cheeky smile. She felt a little bit like glaring. The last time she’d seen him she’d called him an asshole, jerk, douchebag, every possible nickname she could think of for him. She was sure the feeling was mutual. 

“Nothing much,” she said. “Just-”

“Yo yo yo, what is up?” 

Beth turned around, possibly to glare at whoever dared interrupt her, and spotted Chris pulling Josh into a man-hug. “How’s it going, Cochise?” Josh grinned, pulling back. “Have you met up with anyone recently to do some, ah… summer studying with?”

Chris narrowed his eyes and shifted on his feet, letting Beth catch a glimpse of the redhead behind him. Beth was sure Josh’s meaning was not lost on Ashley. 

Josh sniggered and turned away when Chris didn’t answer, greeting Sam who stood right beside him, barely holding back a giggle. “Sam, how are you?”

Sam smiled and cocked her head. “I’ve been doing great Josh. What about you?”

“Ah… could be better with you.”

Beth shook her head and exchanged glances with Hannah. At least he tried. 

By now Emily and Jess had joined them. They were whispering to each other a few feet away from the rest of the group. Emily was telling Jess something, gesturing with her hands. Every once in a while one of them would glance over at the group with a perfected Bitch Face. Jess caught Beth’s eye and she quickly looked away. 

Sam poked Beth’s side. “Hey there, how’s it going?” 

Beth gave her a cocky smile. “So you’ve finally extracted yourself from my brother’s awkward flirting, huh?”   
  
Sam blushed a little. “That’s not- we weren’t-”

“Admitting it is the first step to recovery, Sam,” Beth laughed. 

Sam shook her head and let out a sigh, trying and failing to hide another blush. “Um, so did you see Em? What was that about?”

Beth glanced around. Emily and Jess were still talking to each other, having now joined the group. Emily would usually be clinging to Mike’s side and Jess would be twittering around the couple. Now they stood as far as they possibly could from Mike.

Beth rolled her eyes. “Maybe Mike has just dumped Emily again.” 

Sam scoffed. “Wouldn’t be surprised. How’s Han?”

Beth shrugged. “Well, you know she’s calmed down a lot since the Lodge. Even more since school let out, actually.” She tilted her head. “She was kind of moody when Josh first suggested a picnic, though.”

“Understandable,” Sam said. 

Beth nodded. She wasn’t really hungry but she was kind of done with socializing for today. She gestured to her bag. “Do you wanna help me set up the food?” 

“Sure!” Sam said, moving forward to grab the blanket Beth handed her. They each grabbed a side and laid it out over the ground. Beth pulled out the food, cringing a little at the options. Josh had packed lunch for today.

Now she really wasn’t hungry. 

The others pitched in, helping to set up the food. Beth stood back. She was sure once everyone settled down to eat she would be extremely bored. She glanced around, wondering if anyone would notice if she snuck away. 

Wait. 

That girl over there.

She was kinda (pretty) cute.

Beth watched the girl watching her group of friends for a few minutes before she caught her eye and grinned. The girl gave a small smile in return. 

Perhaps this day might get interesting after all. 

  
  
  
  


Josh ending up next to Sam was a complete and total coincidence. 

He really did not arrange it that way, he promised. Chris had shoved him over to sit next to Sam, and he had had no choice but to stutter and ask to sit by her like they were back in second grade. And she’d smiled up at him, with her pretty freckles and her pretty eyes and her pretty smile, and said  _ please do _ . 

And who was Josh to say no? 

So he sat down next to her and picked up a peanut butter and tomato sandwich (far superior to pb and j). Now he just needed to think of something clever to say.

“Yo-you look really pretty today, Sammy. I mean, you always look pretty, but today you-you… I mean, today you look really great.”

Could he have sounded any dumber? 

He thought no. 

Sam blushed a little and tilted her head. “You think so?” 

Josh was about to stuff his face with his sandwich but instead he nodded furiously. “Definitely. Red-carpet ready.”

Sam smiled again, all teeth and scrunched eyes, and Josh  _ definitely did not _ feel his heart skip a beat at that. 

He didn’t even believe in corny shit like that. 

Sam nodded at him. “Well, you look great today too,” she said, and Sam was one of the most honest people Josh knew but there was no way she could mean that. He had thrown on some flannel and a pair of jeans on this morning and he hadn’t even combed out his hair.

He nodded anyway. “I try… for…” He almost said  _ I try for you _ , but it would be better to play it safe, right? “I try for my fans. Yes. They appreciate it.”

Sam giggled a little. Josh was definitely imagining that flash of disappointment in her eyes. 

He hated his imagination sometimes. 

Trying to fill in the silence, Josh gestured towards Chris and Ashley, where they had their heads together, giggling over something on Ashley’s phone. “They’re still flirting, huh?”

Sam shook her head. “Yeah. It is so obvious they are so into each other.”

Josh nodded solemnly. “Imagine being so oblivious.”

Sam glanced at him. “Yeah. Imagine.”

Josh took another bite of sandwich. 

“Seems like no one in our group has got their love life figured out,” Sam continued. Josh gazed down at his lap. 

He just wished he could be good enough for her. 

He swallowed. The pb and tomato didn’t taste all that good today. “Uh- so what have you been doing since hell let out, Sammy?”

Sam laughed a little. “I was kind of curious about your mountain, so I looked a little into it, and- well, it actually has a pretty interesting history.”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Really? Blackwood?”

Sam nodded.

Josh leaned back, resting his weight on his hands. “Okay, hit me with it then.”

“Well, a Native American tribe called the Cree used to live on it,” Sam said, “and they believed in living in harmony with the land. Disney princess-esque, colors of the wind, all that good stuff.”

“I knew that,” Josh said.

“Hold on, dummy, I’m not done,” Sam said. “In 1893 tin and radium were discovered and a guy called Jefferson Bragg made plans to establish a mine and sanatorium.”

Josh raised both eyebrows this time. “I never heard about this.”

Sam swatted at his shoulder lightly. “Stop interrupting me. This guy was super poor and owning a mine would mean big money for him. His wife was dead but he had a daughter, so providing for her was hard. So he started looking into investors, trying to find a bunch of miners that would work for him. He went out one day to meet them and he took his daughter with him and this meeting was big news in their town.” 

“What was her name?”

“What?”   
  
“The daughter, what was her name?”

“Mary. This guy named William Fiddler had heard about the meeting and he was a part of the Cree tribe. They were kind of religious and they were scared the mining was going to release the spirit of some monster… I can’t really remember the name of it now. I’m pretty sure it started with a W.”

“Go on.”

“Well, he interrupted their meeting and he asked them not to mine into the mountain and Jefferson Bragg was kind of not for it, but his daughter - Mary - she convinced him not to.”

Josh cocked his head. “Really? Just like that?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, just like that. Bragg was a real sucker for his daughter.”

“And how do you know all this?”    
  
“Bragg established another mine eventually and he wrote a book on it and this whole thing was a chapter.” 

“That seems almost too perfect,” Josh said. 

“I know, but apparently it’s all true,” Sam replied. 

Josh was sure the world did not deal out happy endings so easily.


End file.
